The Atlantic recently explored what the American economy might look like with full employment. Using today's metro Des Moines as the example. It's a region with very low unemployment and a high employment to population ratio. What is happening in…
Most, if not all, major metropolitan areas have business organizations that promote the economic well being of their regions. But the Itasca Project serving Minnesota’s Twin Cities is different from just about any such organization in the country. This group…
The Michigan Association of United Way's ALICE report is the best calculation of the proportion of Michigan households that cannot afford basic necessities. That 40 percent of Michigan households––in a strong economy––can't pay for basic necessities should be sending off…
The preeminent challenge of our times is figuring out how to reverse what is being called the Great Decoupling. Where even when the economy is growing––as it has been in Michigan since the end of the Great Recession––only those at…
In our 2018 state policy agenda, we write that the state needs a strong social safety net in order to promote opportunity for Michigan families. Last week, Michigan’s Senate Republicans took a step towards cutting another large hole in that…
Last week I heard a sad but important interview with Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer prize-winning author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City and now founder of The Eviction Lab, an effort to compile and analyze eviction data nationally.…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why middle class life feels increasingly unstable over these last several years—especially in Michigan. Frequent readers of MFI know that we often cite the Michigan Association of United Way’s ALICE report, and its…
Another list of economic well being that you don't want to be on that Michigan is on. This one comes from Harvard University economists Benjamin Austin, Edward Glaeser, and Lawrence Summers. They map the growth in the share of men who…
On Wednesday I wrote about how women in particular are doing in Michigan's--and the world's--changing economy. I started by sharing data on single women-led households with children, who are more likely than not to be living in poverty. Then I…
Following a weekend in which, for the second year in a row, women around the world marched for a variety of issues affecting women and communities they care about, I thought it would be appropriate to spend a minute here…